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Tapping social media’s capacity to drive discovery, Macy’s is launching its new On 34th women’s private label by hiring 56 influencers, a tenfold increase from the department store operator’s previous influencer programming.
Creators include Ali Manno, a former “Bachelorette” reality star with 928,000 Instagram followers; Sazan Hendrix, a beauty blogger with 520,000 YouTube subscribers; and Kristine Thompson, aka @TrendyCurvy, a plus-size influencer with over 1.8 million TikTok followers, according to Ad Age.
A Macy’s spokeswoman told the publication that the influencers “represent our target demo and life stage.”
Among other retailers, Target launched its Fashion Collective women’s apparel and accessories brand last fall in partnership with a rotating roster of style and cultural influencers. A new collection is being launched every four months with new influencers.
Fig.1, the direct-to-consumer skin-care brand, launched at CVS earlier this year by partnering with 10 to 15 micro-influencers across New York, California, and Florida. Fig.1’s co-founder Kimmy Scotti told Glossy, “The hope is that if you see one of these [social] posts or you follow one of these creators, you’ll consider us at CVS when you need a [product] refill.”
A YouGov study from last fall found that 34% of all global consumers learned about a new brand in the previous six months via social media, followed by search engines (28%), friends and family recommendations (26%), e-commerce websites such as Shopify or Amazon (26%), and watching TV ads (22%).
Capgemini's 2023 "What Matters To Today's Consumer" study found that 32% of U.S. consumers have discovered a new product on social media, 22% learned of the product through an influencer, and 16% went on to purchase the product.
Influencer advertising still faces scrutiny as fake influencers can deceive companies by purchasing followers to make their accounts look bigger, but growth is expected to continue given Instagram’s entrenchment and TikTok’s ascent.
A McKinsey article noted that using influencers carries risks, including appearing inauthentic if an influencer recommendation is “clearly paid for.” McKinsey also noted that as influencer marketing’s growth “overwhelms the online market, it may be harder to stand out amid the noise.”